GTA Online – What You Need to Know

Just in time for Grand Theft Auto 5's GTA Online component, Rockstar has revealed a few more details about how the multiplayer will work and how you can be successful.

Everyone who has a copy of GTA 5 will have access to GTA Online through a title update that is now available. Once you've got that downloaded, you can either opt into the story or online from the loading screen. If you're playing the story and you want to jump into online, all you have to do is select the fourth slot in the character wheel to be transported online.

GTA Online takes place a few months before the main story, so there shouldn't be any spoilers from the main game revealed in the online portion. Once you open up online, you'll be taken to the character creator, where you'll have to pick your heritage and your lifestyle choices. If you got one of the special editions of GTA 5, you'll have access to special parents, which can affect your baseline stats early in the game. Your lifestyle choices also affect your stats, and you can adjust them however you see fit to cater to the kind of character you want to play online.

Even though there will be microtransactions for GTA$, Rockstar said there won't be an immediate benefit to those willing to shell out cash for in-game items. All the cool stuff like guns and cars can't even be unlocked until you've earned enough reputation points, which then gives you the option to purchase. Rockstar also promised to keep tweaking the online based on how people are playing, adding it wanted to keep everything fair and balanced for everyone.

On that note, Rockstar also revealed your homes and garages would be safe from attack from people invited inside. Anytime a person is invited into your home, they aren't allowed to attack you as it will be considered a friendly visit. At least this way, griefing should be able to be kept to a minimum. There will be plenty of ways to get back at folks online though, whether through races or heists, and working together with your Crew should make things even easier.

There are already some issues with GTA Online thanks to the insane amount of people currently trying to play, but Rockstar is working to get everything running smoothly. Hopefully it won't be long until everything is running problem free.